Welcome

Primitive religion is not believed, it is danced!

Arthur Darby Nock

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
And only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

Elizabeth Browning



Thursday, January 31, 2019

the curiosity of compassion


Ask about your enemy’s wounds and scars
Seek his hidden cause of trouble
Feed your enemy’s children
Learn their word for home

Repair their well.
Learn their sorrow’s history.
Trace their lineage of good.
Ask them for a song.

Make tea.  Break bread
                        Kim Stafford
______________________________

We have lost a jewel of great value
It slipped away somehow
While we were not looking

While our fingers threw,
Tweets like stones,
And we raged with righteousness,
It fell from our hearts and was gone

The curiosity of compassion

We listen and look
We react and respond

But we do not ask

Questions are the tools of empathy and understanding

Where did it come from, that hate that spews?
What was the genesis of that unfathomable thought?
Who, or what, wounded this one so badly?

What is this person’s story?
Who is this person?
Who is so much more than what I see or hear?

Understanding is not acquiescence
But it creates sacred space
In which connection and healing happen

That space in which that raging fool,
Is transformed into a deeply wounded person
Where anger is metamorphosed into pain

That space in which I gain access once again to my own heart
And can meet the other
As a fellow human being

With the curiosity of compassion
My eyes and heart are opened to the wonder and complexity
Of the precious soul in front of me
And to the wonder and complexity of my own soul

It should be no surprise that we have more stories of Jesus
Eating
Than stories of Jesus
Preaching

I can think of very few times when I have “argued” my way into reconciliation
But I can think of many times
When over a meal
Or over a task (those who paint church basements together, come together)

Communion has been born

We live in a world full of shouting,
pushing,
demanding
Judging,
insisting

maybe it’s time to stop
and listen
and understand

tea anyone?

No comments:

Post a Comment